


game of give and take

by BeStillMySlashyHeart



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27694285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart
Summary: Alex left after graduation. Michael followed.Alex came home just before the ten year reunion. Michael hasn't.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 13
Kudos: 157





	game of give and take

“So wait,” Maria laughed, “you broke up with your fiance by packing up your car and driving away?”

Liz nodded, half cringing as she did so. “I couldn’t face him!” She shook her head and took the shot Maria offered. “There was nothing wrong with him or with us, it just wasn’t right? And I didn’t know how to explain that to him?”

“So you just left,” Alex concluded.

Liz nodded. “Relationships suck,” she pronounced before tossing back the shot. Maria laughed and handed out another round. Technically she was working but she’d overstaffed the schedule that night so she wasn’t needed. 

“That they do,” Alex murmured in agreement before downing his own. Maria and Liz both turned to stare at him in unison, twin looks of intrigue and glee on their faces.

“Oh?” Maria teased.

“Do tell,” Liz added.

Alex laughed and shook his head. “I’m not drunk enough yet.”

“I can fix that,” Maria told him earnestly. She quickly filled his glass and pushed it back over to him. “Talk to us, Manes,” she ordered.

“You’ve been a man of mystery ever since you got back,” Liz chided gently. 

Alex winced. It was true that he hadn’t exactly shared much since returning to Roswell and reuniting with Liz and Maria but he hadn’t had a lot of practice in recent years talking about himself. Everyone who needed to know something usually found out on their own. It worked for him.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Maria muttered suddenly. Alex looked up at her in surprise, Maria wasn’t one to cuss often, only to find her staring over his shoulder. He started to turn but didn’t make it very far before a tall blonde form was pressing up against him.

“Where is he?” Isobel Evans-Bracken demanded sharply. 

“Hey!” Liz cried. She reached out to shove Isobel away from Alex but Isobel brushed her off without looking away.

“Back off, Evans,” Maria ordered. But Alex waved her off.

“Hello to you, too,” he greeted idly. Ignoring her eye roll, he tossed back his newly filled glass. 

“Where is he?” She asked again.

Alex turned his head slightly to look at her. “Do they not have courtesy where your from?” Isobel stifled her flinch but Alex caught it. “Most people say hello first.”

Isobel clenched her jaw. “Hello, _Captain_.” Alex thought the stress on his rank was entirely unnecessary. “You’ve been home for about a month now so again I ask, _where is he_?”

“You have a phone, yes?” Alex asked instead of answering.

Isobel scoffed. “As if it does me any good. Now stop avoiding the question.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

“I really don’t.” He really didn’t. 

Isobel stared at him like she was trying to get inside his head but Alex ignored her again. “Fine,” she said finally, holding out her hand. “Give me your phone.”

Alex saw Maria and Liz tense at the order, both of them already on edge from Isobel’s sudden appearance and her behavior thus far but he ignored them and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He even unlocked it before handing it over.

Isobel snatched it from him and stomped over to a corner, the phone already pressed against her ear. Alex watched curiously, honestly unsure if she would get a response. It’s not like Alex always did. 

He didn’t have to wait long. “So your phone _does_ work!” Isobel said loudly before continuing in a quieter tone. If Alex strained, he could maybe make out what she was saying but he wasn’t sure he cared enough right now to try.

“Max?!” Liz sat up straight next to him. It was the only warning Alex got before the other Evans twin pressed up next to him.

“Hi, Liz,” Max greeted her warmly before turning to Alex. “Where is he?”

That gave Alex pause. He’d expected Isobel to badger him for information, had been expecting it ever since he crossed the city limit a month ago truthfully, but Max had always kept his distance from Alex. He glanced up at him. “I don’t know.” He gestured over to where Isobel still stood. “She took my phone and seems to have gotten through so go ask her.”

Max went to his sister’s side without another word.

“Okaaaay,” Maria dragged out. “What the fuck?”

—

Alex was more than a little tipsy when he finally got home. He was drunk enough that he probably shouldn’t have been driving but he really hadn’t wanted to spend the night on Maria’s couch so he let her sober him up a little bit before he left. Max and Isobel hadn’t stayed long after her phone call ended and neither one of them had bothered to tell him what the emergency was but Alex did get his phone back so he pushed the encounter out of his mind. Getting Liz and Maria to drop the inquiry had been a bit harder but eventually they realized he wasn’t going to answer their questions and dropped it. For now, at least.

When Alex pulled up to his house, the headlights reflected briefly off the shiny metal of an Airstream. It was parked behind the house, almost hidden from the road. The beat up old Chevy was in the extra parking spot next to Alex’s.

Alex turned off his car and carefully got out. He ignored the truck and the Airstream and the implications of them being there when Alex hadn’t seen either for close to six months.

It was late, he was tired, he was drunk, and he just wanted to go to sleep.

So of course, he opens the door to the sound of a saw.

“Michael!” He yelled helplessly, the noise making his head hurt already. Alex dropped his keys on the table next to the door, made sure the lock was turned, and ventured closer to the noise.

It was coming from his bedroom. No, he realized as he got closer, it was coming from his bathroom. Alex peeked in the doorway and groaned loudly, the sound covered up by the machinery. This morning he’d had a shower tub, now he had a hole in his bathroom. Michael was crouched on the ground, cutting pieces of something Alex couldn’t identify. He had his protective gear on and Alex knew he was oblivious to everything but what was right in front of his eyes.

With a loud sigh, Alex flicked the light switch. Almost instantly, the saw cut off and Michael turned to face the doorway. His hair was a mess, his clothes dirty from his work, and he looked exhausted.

He was still the best thing Alex had seen in months.

“Hey,” he greeted quietly, turning away almost immediately. He started cleaning up his work.

“I need a shower,” Alex complained. His leg was killing him and he felt gross after spending all night at the Pony. Coming home to yet another one of Michael’s projects was not what he’d had in mind for the night. Especially since he hadn’t heard from him in weeks.

“You’ve got another bathroom,” Michael replied. 

Alex thudded his head against the door frame and instantly regretted it. “It doesn’t have handrails.”

“I put the ones from here in there,” Michael told him. 

“Why?” Michael didn’t offer a response other than to cut a glance at Alex’s leg. Alex rolled his eyes. Sure, Michael had promised after his injury to make sure his house was accessible but that was three houses ago. He let it go. “How long are you staying?” He asked instead.

Michael’s shoulders slumped just a little. “Don’t know yet.” He never knew. “You?”

“Don’t know yet,” Alex replied. Michael nodded like he’d been expecting it, though Alex had always had an answer before.

If anyone asked, Michael would deny he’d done it until his dying breath, but a week after Alex left for basic training, Michael packed up his stuff and followed him. He played it off like he wanted a road trip, like he’d ended up in the same town as Alex by pure happenstance, but they both knew he’d followed him. It set a pattern after that: Michael never stayed forever, taking off every now and then with his Airstream and going who knows where, but he always came back to Alex. Even when Alex received new postings, Michael would show up within a month. 

It was unconventional. But it worked for them. Sort of. Mostly.

They weren’t monogamous but they were committed. Mostly. Alex might define it as an open relationship if they’d ever actually had a conversation on the subject. 

When Max and Isobel needed to get a hold of Michael and couldn’t, they called Alex. Or besieged him at the bar. Alex sometimes knew where Michael was. But not always. 

Michael went to school except when he didn’t. He picked up odd jobs and trade skills when he needed to. He never tried for more and it drove Alex crazy. He had so much potential and Alex couldn’t help but think he was squandering it chasing after Alex like he did.

Alex was in the Air Force. That hadn’t changed. Not yet. Neither had Michael’s aversion to it. Michael correlated the Air Force with Alex’s father and most of the time he could look past it for Alex’s sake but sometimes he couldn’t. Those times were times when he would pack and up and leave and Alex wouldn’t see him for months at a time.

Alex’s injury and his refusal to accept an honorable discharge had sent Michael running as soon as he’d made sure Alex was okay. 

It was the first time Alex hadn’t been sure Michael would come back.

“I’ll have a new shower in by tomorrow,” Michael told him, yanking Alex from his thoughts. “It’s got a bench and some other stuff to make it accessible.” Alex held in his sigh of relief. He’d been making his shower tub work for the last month but it was exhausting. 

“Thank you,” he told Michael sincerely.

Michael nodded in response and stood up, his work tidied enough not to trip Alex up in case he needed to get by for any reason. “Come on,” he shooed. “Shower.” It was a wordless offer to help and Alex appreciated it.

Alex didn’t move. He waited right where he was until Michael was right in front of him. “Hi,” he said softly.

“Hi,” Michael huffed in fond amusement. “You gave my sister your phone.”

“You didn’t have to answer.”

He shrugged. “I thought it was you.”

Alex twisted his fingers in the front of Michael’s shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. “I missed you.”

Michael kissed him again, longer this time. “Missed you too. Now shower. You smell like the floor of the Pony.”

**Author's Note:**

> i originally meant for this to be a whole thing but this was all i could actually manage. who knows tho? maybe when my motivation to write returns from the war there might be more?


End file.
